New Michigan Man: OL Greg Crippen Commits to Michigan

After 10 months of nothing, the 2021 Michigan football recruiting class has its first commitment and its another four-star offensive lineman as 2021 IMG Academy (Milton, MA) OL Greg Crippen committed to the Wolverines.

Commitment

Scouting Report

Crippen is a very highly rated interior offensive linemen that has versatility at both guard and center. He has terrific vision on combo and second-level blocks. He does a great job snapping the ball, engaging on a defender, and then disengaging quickly to block a man at the next level.

He’s a strong interior lineman that can move people out of the way when he locks his hand on the interior of the frame of the defensive lineman or linebacker. He has a tendency to lunge his upper body to drive contact at the second level which can lead him to getting shed by linebackers. But this is a very manageable issue for a young offensive lineman to face, and it’s much more encouraging to see the violence that he inflicts when he lands a punch.

Recruitment

Crippen has been on Michigan’s radar for a long time. After receiving his offer from the staff back in June of 2018, he made his way to Ann Arbor for the 2018 BBQ at the Big House and then made his way back to campus for the 2018 season home finale against Indiana.

However, the clear admiration for the maize and blue wasn’t enough as he committed to Notre Dame following an impactful visit in March of 2019 where he received his offer from Brian Kelly. But that didn’t last too long as it looked like the two parties started separating by the end of the summer.

The four-star center visited Michigan for the 2019 season opener against Middle Tennessee State. From that point on, he became a name to watch closely. He made other game visits during the season and ended up publicly decommitting from the Fighting Irish in early March.

A couple weeks later, Crippen announced his commitment to Michigan during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Highlights

As for the Rest of the Class

Crippen is the third overall commitment in this class, the first out of Massachusetts, and the second offensive lineman in this class (first center). By the time this is published, Michigan picked up its fourth commit of the class on the same day. This could be a bit of an avalanche starter as the Wolverines have been in great shape with several top offensive line targets including OG Rocco Spindler, OT Caleb Tiernan, and OTDavid Davidkov.